A broadcast network of the related art generally uses a Moving Picture Experts Group-2 Transport Stream (MPEG-2 TS) for transmission of multimedia contents. That is, the MPEG-2 TS is used as a representative transmission technique for transmitting a bitstream in which a plurality of broadcast programs (a number of encoded video bit streams) are multiplexed in an erroneous transmission environment. For example, the MPEG-2 TS is suitable for use in digital TV broadcasting of the multimedia era.
FIG. 1 illustrates a hierarchical structure for supporting the MPEG-2 TS according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, layers for supporting the MPEG-2 TS include a media coding layer (MEDIA CODING LAYER) 110, a synchronization layer (SYNC LAYER) 120, a delivery layer (DELIVERY LAYER) 130, a network layer (NETWORK LAYER) 140, data link layer (DATA LINK LAYER) 150, and a physical layer (PHYSICAL LAYER) 160.
The media coding layer (MEDIA CODING LAYER) 110 and the synchronization layer (SYNC LAYER) 120 are constructed in a format that facilitates use of media data as the basic unit of recording or transmission. The delivery layer (DELIVERY LAYER) 130, the network layer (NETWORK LAYER) 140, the data link layer (DATA LINK LAYER) 150, and the physical layer (PHYSICAL LAYER) 160 construct a multimedia frame for recording of a data block in a format constructed by the synchronization layer (SYNC LAYER) 120 in a separate recording medium or for transmission of the data block. The constructed multimedia frame is transmitted to a subscriber terminal through a predetermined network. To this end, the synchronization layer (SYNC LAYER) 120 is constructed by a fragmentation block (FRAGMENT BLOCK) 122 and an access unit (ACCESS UNIT) 124, and the delivery layer (DELIVERY LAYER) 130 is constructed by an MPEG-2 TS/MP4 RTP Payload Format/Flute 132, an RTP/HTTP 134, and an UDP/TCP 136.
However, the MPEG-2 TS has several limitations in supporting multimedia services. The limitations of the MPEG-2 TS is one-way communication, inefficiency in transmission due to a fixed frame size, a specialized transmission protocol for audio/video, and a generation of unnecessary overhead in a transmission using Internet Protocols (IPs).
Thus, in order to overcome the limitations of the MPEG-2 TS, the MPEG MEDIA Transport (MMT) standard is newly suggested as one of multimedia transmission techniques for supporting multimedia services based on the MPEG technology. For example, the MMT standard may be applied to efficiently transmit hybrid contents through a heterogeneous network. Herein, the hybrid contents denote a set of contents having multimedia elements based on video/audio/application. The heterogeneous network denotes networks in which a broadcast network and a communication network coexist.
The MMT standard aims at defining a more friendly transmission technique for the IP that is a basic technique in a transmission network for the multimedia services. Hence, the MMT standard is intended to provide an efficient MPEG transmission technique in a multimedia service environment that changes based on the IP, and is steadily studied and standardized. In particular, for the MMT standard in a recent multimedia service environment that provides a hybrid network and hybrid contents, a need exists for a plan for providing an efficient MPEG transmission technique.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.